INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COMMUNITY WORK:
Internal - a worker who lives in the community they are working in, or are clearly identified as part of that community.
External - a worker who comes in from somewhere else, is (at least initially) a stranger to the community and is seen as an outsider.
A worker can make the transition to an internal worker by moving to live in that community and working to become accepted as part of that community. This can be a slow process and may take a long time before that worker is accepted, so patience is required.
The external approach is less preferred as it runs counter to the ideals of empowerment, local initiative, self-reliance and autonomy, and effectively reinforces the community's dependence on external resources. It also assumes that the worker can apply knowledge and experienced gained elsewhere to the local, social, and cultural context.